Marcus Level Director's Cut!
by Weeb that's a Sheep
Summary: (My take on the Marcus Level Show) While playing the last level of 'Gorbar the Barbarian' Marcus is suddenly transported to the game world! Marcus, now the hero of the story must collect Pieces of the Golden Mirror! All in the while fending off against the Villainous Vipkrad and a new gang of Villains: The Mirror Thieves!


**Marcus Level: Director's Cut!**

 **Chapter 1: The start of a New Adventure!**

It was the brink of dusk when Marcus was playing his favorite videogame, beads of sweat began to draw down his forward as his concentration with his favorite game, Gorbar the Barbarian was starting to show, his hands sported blistered thumbs, his back was slouched and arched like a bent roll of newspaper, all with a look of strong competition on his face.

He was on the last level of his favorite game, a game featuring the titular character, Gorbar the Barbarian trying to accomplish his quest of rescuing Princess Aria from the evil mechanical clutches of Vipkrad.

This is done by going through a multitude of challenges ranging from the normal boss fight to the peculiar and just plain odd such as racing or mine spelunking, all in the while collecting golden pieces of Princess Aria's mirror, the only way to truly restore the land of the Seven Golden Lights.

* * *

Alongside Marcus's player character, Gorbar the Barbarian, was his two faithful companions, Gratrok and Ephie, these three heroes pit themselves against the evil Vipkrad and his many forces of evil.

Gratrok is a drudging, heavy-clawed Rat Crab, a race of excavating, stout and tough Crustaceans who have a furry rat's snout for their heads, effectively making them both a Mammal and a Crustcean, a Mustcean if you will, they dwell in deep caverns of mined tunnels, forming humble dirt-trodden homes and bold refineries, forging and crafting powerful artifacts that can break the earth that a mere pickaxe or shovel can never do.

Ephie was a little less fantastical, she was an elf, as with most elves, she was elegant, refined, classical and graceful who is one with nature, being able to sense its feeling and able to unleash its wrath against their enemies, her bow was not only for skewering enemies with precise efficiency but it could also play a beautiful melody for it was also a three-string harp, her long hair was tinted cherry blossom pink and it was cleanly sectioned by three leaf green hair bands.

And finally, there was the title character himself, Gorbar, powerful, strong and heroic, wielding his mighty sword, Alcalone and being accompanied by his sprite, Loumi, serving Gorbar as his silent but helpful guide throughout his adventures.

These two companions stood with Gorbar against the villainous Vipkrad, their weapons drawn and their valor against the villain was rather admirable.

"You will never defeat me Gorbar! Once you and your friends are defeated, I'm one more step closer gathering all of Princess Aria's golden mirror!" The Impish teal-skinned and purple-robed Vipkrad said before emitting a wicked crackle from his sharp-toothed maw, a wave of robot warriors stood guard in front of the villain as a caged Princess Aria gripped the bars of her small and confining iron cage.

"Please save me Gorbar! I'm tired of being carried away along with this Ugly-Looking Gremlin!" Princess Aria said with a tone of worry in her voice, Vipkrad exchanged a callous and angered look towards the Princess before he refocused on the task at hand.

"Not to worry my dear princess Aria! I'll save you!" The strongly-built Gorbar said as he pointed his legendary sword to Vipkrad who hissed venomously in response.

"That's what you think Gorbar! Attack my robot minions!" Vipkrad ordered as the first wave of robotic one-eyed soldiers marches towards the Player character and his two companions.

"Ephie! Gratrok! You two deal with these vile robots, I'll take down Vipkrad personally!" Gorbar ordered his two allies, his voice being grandiose and full of leadership.

"May the Spirits of the forest guide your victory Gorbar!" Ephie responded as she readied her bow, hoisting an arrow on the third string on her deadly musical instrument.

"Aye aye Gorbar! These robots are going to taste my pickaxe!" Gratrok shouted loudly as he charged into the wave of robot soldiers, he swung his pickaxe as if it was a true weapon, shattering and breaking down a pair of robot soldiers into various heaps of scrap metal and electronics.

"Watch out Gratrok!" Ephie shouted as she destroyed a robot that was awfully close to striking the Rat Crab down with a precise arrow right through the robot's metal skull.

"Woah! Thanks Ephie!" Gratrok said in a thankful tone before he slammed his weapon against another pair of robots, destroying them once more.

* * *

While in the game it was a grand battle between good and evil...In the real world, more specifically, in Marcus's bedroom on the other hand, instead of a war-torn battlefield that was ruined by many skirmishes was replaced by a virtual display of bits and cartoonish graphics, the sounds of grand realism were instead replaced with sounds of electronic elasticity.

Marcus button mashed at an alarming rate, his controller making rather loud clicking noises as his speedy fingers pressed buttons and turned analog sticks.

"Come on! This strategy that I found from the internet has to work! I'm on my last continue!" Marcus said aloud as it was coupled with a invigorated tone.

"I'm here for Marcus!" A voice said aloud downstairs below Marcus's room, Marcus gasped as his concentration was broken from the sudden announcement.

"Oh yeah! Mom and Dad are leaving for the week! Darn...I should've said goodbye to them while they were downstairs..." Marcus said with a look of slight regret in his face, he stared at his game, it was still on, waiting for Marcus to beat the last level, begrudgingly, he paused his game.

"Maybe I can still say goodbye to them before they leave!" Marcus suddenly realized before scampered off to the window of his room, he saw his mom and dad, boarding a taxi that was full of their luggage.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad! Have a good vacation!" Marcus said as he waved to his pair of parents, they waved back with warm and kind smiles, they got into the yellow car and it drove away, it was a quick leave for the parents, something that Marcus took a note of.

"Huh, guess they really wanted to go hehe...Huh...Its Stormy...Guess they want to beat the rain..." Marcus said inquisitively as he stared up in the sky, instantly noticing that instead of a cloudless blue sky, it was replaced by imposing clouds of muddy grey.

"Anyway...Back to playing!" Marcus said as he sprinted back to his gaming console, unpausing the game and getting back to playing, his ears catching the sounds of Gorbar and his companions taking down Vipkrads robotic goons but not the roars of thunder outside of his home.

* * *

"Eat this! You Brainless Beefhead!" Vipkrad said with a growl as he brandished a black-bladed cutlass from his robed sleeves, their two blades clashed in a flash of sparks and steel.

"Evil will never win! Vipkrad! My hunger for justice is insatiable!" Gorbar shouted back as his legendary sword broke Vipkrad's cutlass, the Vile Leader screeched in surprise as fell to the ground from the sudden weapon break, Gorbar quickly walked over Vipkrad, his sword over his head and ready to take out the Vile Vipkrad once and for all.

"Grrr...How about this then!?" Vipkrad said with a laugh, Gorbar glanced at Vipkrad with a curved eyebrow before he was blasted by a shot of lightning, sending the barbarian hero several feet back, giving Vipkrad some time to recover and to reveal to Gorbar that he was now suddenly equipped with a energy gun-like weapon with a small but potent tesla coil at the barrel of the toxic green colored gun.

"Shocking...Isn't it Gorbar?!" Vipkrad asked, snickering annoyingly from his own pun, impressed by his semi-witty wordplay.

"Your tricks won't last you for long!" Gorbar said with a growl, Vipkrad grimaced at Gorbar before shooting a lightning bolt at the Barbarian, this time however, the hero was ready, with his mighty sword Alcalone, he threw his blade at Vipkrad, the Villain gasped in shock as while Gorbar was struck once again by lightning, making him fall back, Vipkrad's gun was shattered after being struck by Alcalone.

"Nooo! My Tesla Gun...Grrr I'll just destroy you with this piece of mirror!" Vipkrad threatened as he pulled out a large golden puzzle piece from his robes, Gorbar was not phased by the last piece of the Golden Mirror that was in Vipkrad's possession.

"And how are you going to do that!? You Rat of a Villain?" Gorbar challenged, causing Vipkrad to laugh wickedly, having satisfaction on answering such a question.

"By this!" Vipkrad said, pulling his robes away from his chest, revealing his metal exoskeleton and the socket of where the piece of the golden mirror should be, without a second thought, Vipkrad inserted the golden mirror piece into his chest-piece.

A flash of light, but it was not a flash of gold and hope, like all lights are supposed to be, but instead, it was a flash of twisted purple and despair, Vipkrad's mechanical exoskeleton began to twist and morph, almost as if it was a living creature being subjected to a brutal experiment of mutation.

Vipkrad's exoskeleton, once thin but agile was now massive and mighty, his robes were torn and ripped as the metal body underneath it began to grow in size, the metal bent and scream as it unnaturally grew into bigger and stronger rivets and plates of iron and steel, his bony metal fingers were warped into massive clenched fists akin to the size of jackhammers, his metal legs were twisted into a pair of ground-crushing tank treads and spikes of villainly began to pop out around various places around Vipkrad's exoskeleton.

"What do you think about fighting me now Gorbar?!" Vipkrad's laughed as his long teal green-skinned head being dwarfed by his new and improved mecha suit, towering over the barbarian hero by almost six feet.

"Evil will never win Vipkrad! Have at Thee!" Gorbar said with defiance, which certainly annoyed the Villainous Vipkrad, without a hitch, the mirror piece-powered Vipkrad raised his two metal fists high up in the air, Gorbar readied himself as the two hammer-like fists came crashing down in lightning speed, despite this attack, Gorbar did not falter, holding his blade in his two hands, he closed his eyes for a mere moment of concentration before he was ready.

"Al...CARNAGE!" Gorbar roared in a voracious battlecry, his sword began to blaze with this aura of heroic and holy blue fire, he spun Alcalone around like a whirlwind of heroic steel as Vipkrad's robot fists clashed against the attack, a blast of force occurred between the two combatants pushing both of them back,

"Hahaha! You think your puny sword can really defeat-WHAT?!" Vipkrad screeched in shock to see his metal fists completely gone, being replaced by two hollow stumps that were filled with multi-colored wires, Vipkrad's jaw then dropped when he saw Gorbar, completely unscathed!

"Time to finish this..." Gorbar said quietly, Vipkrad started to sweat in fear as he was now completely defenseless.

"Hold on Gorbar! Maybe we can talk this out!" Vipkrad said in a weak attempt of yield, but the Barbarian was having none of Vipkrad's trickery,

"Is Gorbar really gonna do it?" Gratrok asked as he smashed the last robot soldier into pieces, joining its brethren as piles of scrap littered throughout the battlefield.

"Of course he will! He's being guided by the spirit of the forest!" Ephie inquired as quivered one of her drawn arrows, the two companions watched as Gorbar Charged at Vipkrad, his sword over his head and a final battlecry being shouted at the top of his lungs.

* * *

"Al...CARNAGE!" Marcus said with a shout, a big triumphant smile on his face pressing the button combo so that he can finally win the game.

Just as Marcus did such a combination of button presses and analog stick movements, a flash of lightning erupted through the dark clouds that were in the real world's sky that was above Marcus's neighborhood, the bolt struck the electrical antennae that was attached to Marcus's abode, Marcus's room lights and gaming console, once bright and illuminated with electrical energy, was now black and extinguished from the lightning strike.

Marcus smile was still plastered on his face as he simply stared absent-minded at the now video-less screen, the initial shock still stinging right in Marcus's heart, it took the gamer boy about three seconds to finally realize that all of his progress on the last level...Was completely gone.

"No..." Marcus said to himself, it was not a yell, it was not a shout, but a whisper, a whisper that was dripping with disbelief and disappointment, he slowly placed his hands on his personal television, Marcus shook the TV frantically with a scream of both anger and despair.

"WHY?!" Marcus asked himself but before he could get an answer to his overreaction, another lightning strike blasted from the clouds once again, causing Marcus to yelp loudly as the bolt struck Marcus's house once more.

All of the sudden, the lights flickered on, returning back to life, Marcus had a burst of joy when his game restarted, showing off its title screen, while it does seem quite dispiriting to be at the finale of the last level there was at least ONE saving grace in all of this madness.

On the title screen it had the fabled words...'Continue' Marcus was absolutely ecstatic that his game didn't lose any memory from the flash blackout, his hope and his fervor began to rejuvenate as he made the cursor hover over the title screen option.

"Time to beat this game! Let's go!" Marcus said as he pressed the confirmation button.

There was nothing at first, in fact...The Title Screen seemed to freeze, Marcus's smile immediately turned upside down.

A Flash of Light exploded out of the television, brightly blinding the whole of Marcus's room and causing the gamer boy to scream as he draped in the burning shine.


End file.
